Mark Rothko: A Biography

A full-length biography of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, a man considered as fascinating, difficult and compelling as the paintings he produced. Drawing on Mark Rothko's personal papers and hundreds of interviews with artists, patrons, and dealers, James Breslin tells the story of a life in art - the personal costs and professional triumphs, the convergence of genius and ego, culture and commerce, that defined the New York art scene of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s - the world of Abstract Expressionism, of Pollock, Rothko, de Kooning, Klein. Born in 1903, Marcus Rothkowitz fled the poverty and anti-Semitism of his native Russia at the age of ten, settling in Portland, Oregon. His father died soon after. After a brief stint at Yale, Rothko moved to New York City and began to study painting. Enduring the poverty, and obscurity of countless struggling artists of the time, Rothko soon added his enormous talents to a movement, a revolution, that would redefine the very meaning of art. Breslin captures this moment in brilliant detail with valuable, rare accounts of Rothko's close friendships with such artists as Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman, and Clyfford Still. Rothko's l 961 one-man exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art established his preeminence among living American artists. Breslin chronicles his development, both personally and professionally, leading up to this period, including Rothko's complicated relations with fellow artists, critics, and influential dealers such as Peggy Guggenheim, Betty Parsons, Sidney Janis, and Frank Lloyd. He also explores the commissions - for a Harvard dining room, Philip Johnson's Four Seasons restaurant, and the Chapelin Houston - that brought the defiant abstract artist squarely into the mainstream. Separation from his second wife, drinking problems, failing health, and a constant struggle with the art market all contributed to Rothko's suicide in 1970. To many, he remains a symbol of the rebellions, self-destructive genius that defined American art at mid-century. In "Mark Rothko: A Biography", however, Breslin moves beyond the symbol to reveal the complexities and contradictions of the man, his art, and his time.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations 1: Parnassus on 53rd Street 2: Dvinsk/Portland 3: New Haven/New York 4: Starting Out in the Depression 5: Working for the WPA 6: "All-Out War" 7: "'Globalism' Pops Into View" 8: "A New Life" 9: "An Art That Lives and Breathes" 10: Rothko's New Vision 11: Recognitions 12: The Dark Paintings 13: The Seagram Murals 14: Rothko's Image 15: The Harvard Murals 16: The Houston Chapel 17: Rothko's Aneurysm 18: The Gift to the Tate 19: Rothko's Suicide Afterword Documentation Notes Acknowledgments Index Photo Credits

Review :
"A must read."-- "Art Newspaper" "Breslin impressively recreates Mark Rothko's troubled nature, his tormented life, and his disturbing canvases. . . . The artist's paintings become almost tangible within Breslin's pages, and Rothko himself emerges as an alarming physical force."--Robert Warde "Hungry Mind Review" "Breslin spent seven years working on this book, and he has definitely done his homework."--Nancy M. Barnes "Boston Phoenix" "Clearly written, full of intelligent insights, and thorough."--Hayden Herrera "Art in America" "He's made the tragedy of his subject's life the more poignant."--Eric Gibson "The New Criterion" "In Breslin, Rothko has the ideal biographer--thorough but never tedious, a good storyteller with an ear for the spoken word, fond but not fawning, and possessed of a most rare ability to comment on non-representational art without sounding preposterous."--Robert Kiely "Boston Review" "The best life of an American painter that has yet been written . . . a biographical classic. It is painstakingly researched, fluently written and unfailingly intelligent in tracing the tragic course of its subject's tormented character."--Hilton Kramer "New York Times Book Review" "This remains beyond question the finest biography so far devoted to an artist of the New York School."--Arthur C. Danto "Boston Globe"